Loom stop motion control



April 1959 R. A. LITTLEJOHN ETAL ,0

' LOOM STOP MOTION CONTROL v Filed Sept. 50, 1957 2 Shets-Sheet 1 ROBERT A. LITTLE JOHN V%EM ATTORNEY ROBERT M. |NGHAM,JR.

April 1959 R. A. LITTLEJOHN ETAL 2,884,011

LOOM smog MOTION CONTROL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 30, 1957 may FIGR'J' INVENTORS ROBERT A. LITTLEJOHN BYROBERT M. lNGHAM, JR.

ATTO R NEY United States Patent 2,884,011 LooM sror MOTION CONTROL Robert A. Littlejohn, Clemson, and Robert M. Ingham, Jr., Spartanburg, S.C., assignors to Deering Milliken Research Corporation, Pendleton, S.C., a corporanon of Delaware Application September 30, 1957, Serial No. 686,953 20 Claims. (Cl. 139-1) This invention relates to the cleaning of looms, and more particularly to an arrangement and method wherein a loom may be cleaned through a traveling blower arrangement which may employ a large volume and high rate of air flow without causing inadvertent stoppmg of the loom through operation of the stop motion caused by the blast of air from the blower.

In the operation of looms in a weave room the loom parts accumulate a large amount of lint and other foreign matter which requires frequent cleaning in order to maintain efficient operation and high quality of production by the loom. While attempts have been made to clean the looms through the medium of a traveling overhead blower arrangement, this has generally been found to be unsatisfactory in the past since the amount and velocity of air which must be employed are quite critical. If the amount and/or velocity of air is too great the drop wires of the warp stop motion will be moved by the blast of air from the blower-to a degree such that the warp stop motion will be falsely actuated to stop. the loom particularly where warp sley is relatively low and/or the number of drop wires is relatively small; whereas, if the amount and/ or velocity of air is adjusted so as not to interfere with stop motion operation the amount may be insufiicient to properly clean the loom which will then require further hand cleaning. As a consequence, such previous attempts have met with little success and it is customary to clean the looms by a portable hand blower and/or a brush.

It is accordingly a major object and feature of this invention to provide an arrangement and method wherein a traveling blower may be employed to clean looms without necessitating the decreasing of the blower air blast to accommodate the loom stop motion apparatus.

A further feature is the provision of a traveling blower I arrangement and method wherein the stop motion or stop motions of an individual loom are disconnected during the passage of the traveling blower past each individual loom.

Another'feature of the invention. is the provision of a loom cleaning arrangement. employing a traveling overhead blower which intermittently passes each of a group of looms and which may be run with a very high velocity and amount of air flow directed onto the looms without causing the loom stop motions to be actuated and cause false loom stops.

In carrying out the foregoing features and objects, the invention briefly comprises the provision of each loom with a switch which is opened by the traveling blower as it approaches the loom and which is closed again as the blower leaves the loom. This switch is operatively connected in the circuit of the electric warp or other desired stop motion, which stop motion is conventional on standard looms. The actuating mechanism for the switch may take any of several forms, including the employment of a stepping switch or walking beam switch which may be actuated by a striking member or members on the blower carriage, the preferred embodiment how- 2,884,011 Patented Apr. 28, 19 59 "ice ever being a movable vane arrangement which is responsive to the flow of air from the blower as it approaches the individual loom, such vane being employed to control a switch which effectively disconnects the electric stop motion during the passage of the blower over the individual loom with subsequent reconnection of the stop motion circuit after the passage of the blower beyond the loom.

Still other objects and attendant features will become apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following detailed description of several embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accom panying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of a preferred embodiment constructed according to the invention,

Figures 2 and 3 are schematic illustrations of two types of dashpot time-delay arrangements,

Figure 4 is a schematic illustration of a modification of the switch arrangement,

Figure 5 is a schematic plan view of a group of looms together with an air cleaner, as may be employed according to the invention.

Referring now to the figures of the drawings, as shown in Figure 1 a vane 11 is pivotally mounted as indicated at 13 on a suitable support 15, which may suitably be an upper end frame member of the loom 17, and directly beneath the path of an overhead traveling blower 19 on the approach side of the individual loom 17, which may be one of a group of looms in a weave room (see Figure 5) all or a part of which may be serviced by one or more overhead traveling blowers 19. The blower 19 may be of any suitable type, preferably being of the self-propelled type traveling on rails 21 or the like as is conventional practice in other related blower cleaning arrangements, as for instance in spinning rooms.

A mercury switch or other suitable position-responsive switch 23 is suitably mounted on the vane 11 or otherwise arranged for synchronous movement or other responsive action upon movement of the vane 11. In the illustrated arrangement the mercury switch 23 is connected in series with the sensing portion of the stop motion circuit generally indicated at 25, which sensing portion includes the conventional drop wires 27, and this switch 23 functions to disconnect or render inoperable this circuit 25 when the vane 11 is moved clockwise as viewed in Figure l.

A dashpot 29 is mounted beneath the vane 11 and has a piston 31 which is freely engaged by the lower surface of the vane 11 or other suitable member mov able with the vane 11. Depression of the vane 11 causes the piston 31 to be correspondingly moved downwardly,

v whereupon the piston will then be forced upwardly by a compression spring 33 in the dashpot, the rate of upward movement of the plunger being adjustable as by the adjustment of a screw valve 35 thereon.

In Figure 2 there is shown in more detail the air vane and dashpot arrangement of Figure l, as employing a pneumatic dashpot. The vane is pivotally mounted as by a hinge 13 secured to a bracket 37 which may be suitably mounted on any suitable support 15, as for example on the upper portion of the loom frame. Also mounted as by screws on the bracket 37 is the dashpot 29. The dashpot cylinder 29 may as in the conventional practice have an air hole 41 communicating with the upper end of the cylinder above the cup washer 43 which is movable with the piston rod 31. The piston rod 31 is moved downwardly by the action of the air stream A from the blower 19 on the vane 11 which is in surface contact with the upper end of the piston rod, whereas return movement of the piston rod and vane is accomplished through the medium of compression spring 33 which bears against a metal end washer or flange 45 beneath the rubber cup washer. Preferably, a suitable gasket 47 is disposed between the cylinder and the bracket in order to provide an air seal connection. Adjustment of the return time for the piston rod and vane may be accomplished through the medium of bleeder screw valve 35 which extends through a porous washer 49 and is in loose threaded engagement with the bracket 35, thereby providing an air inlet to the lower end of the cylinder.

It will thus be seen that as the overhead traveling blower 19 moves to the approach side of the loom 17 the force ofdownwardly directed air A from the blower 19 will cause the vane 11 to be moved downwardly thereby opening the mercury switch 23 and depressing the piston 31. The warp stop motion 25, is thereby rendered inoperative or disabled through the opening of mercury switch 23 and remains inoperative or disabled for a predetermined period of time until the vane 11 is moved upwardly to its original position with the mercury switch 23 being closed. This upward movement of the vane is accomplished through the controlled upward movement of the piston 31 which bears against the lower surface of the vane 11 to exert a counter-clockwise torque (as viewed in Figure 1) thereon until it reaches the original quiescent position. By adjusting the valve 35 of the dashpot (Figure 2) the period for which the vane 11 Will maintain the mercury switch 23 open may be suitably varied as desired, depending upon the rate of travel of the overhead traveling blower 19 and the width of the loom 17, such that the mercury switch 23 will be reclosed at substantially the same time or shortly after the blast from blower 19 is moved laterally beyond the loom 17. In this manner the warp stop motion 25 will be rendered inoperative and out of action for each individual loom 17 so long as the traveling blower is positioned thereover, with its air streams directed onto the loom but will be operative at all other times as may be desired.

In Figure 3 there is disclosed a modified dashpot arrangement 29' which is in may instances preferable to the pneumatic arrangement illustrated in Figure 3, due particularly to its reliability in operation. In this arrangement oil or other liquid 51 is employed in the dashpot as a viscous medium to obtain the necessary time delay in return of the piston rod 53 after movement by the vane 11 to the lower position. As seen in this figure, the cylinder 55 has piston rod 53 movable therein, which in turn has a metal washer or flange 57 having holes 59 therein secured to its lower end as by a screw 61 or the like. A floating washer 63 is loosely disposed between the perforated end washer 57 and a collar 65 fixed on the piston rod 53 in spaced apart relation from the perforated end washer. Compression spring 66 serves to impart a return force to the piston rod assembly after downward movement of the rod by the vane 11. In operation the floating washer 63 floats up on the oil 51 coming through the holes 59 as the piston rod is borne down, and seats on the holes 59 during return action by the compression spring 66, thus causing the holes to be closed and forcing the oil 51 to return around the periphery of the perforated washer 57, which washer may have a suitably loose fit within the cylinder 55 for this purpose. Alternatively, the perforated washer may have additional holes therein which are not covered by the floating washer during return movement in order to form the oil return path during upward movement of the piston rod, or both paths may be employed if desired. One manner of adjusting the time delay eliected by this dashpot arrangement is the employment of oil or other suitable liquid having a suitable higher or lower viscosity rating, this being normally preferable to the provision of a valve-adjustable by-pass orifice or line between the upper and lower ends of the cylinder since a major item of concern in devices of this type is that of cost of production. However, such adjustable constructions might obviously be employed if so desired.

Referring to the modification shown in Figure 4, the

stop motion 25 is selectively deactuated and actuated by the passage of the traveling blower 19 through the medium of two depending resilient striker members 67, 69 which may suitably be pieces of rubber hose or the like, and which are connected in any suitable manner at respectively the font and rear of the blower carriage 71. The switch as employed in this embodiment is preferably a stepping switch 73 having an actuating arm 75 connected to a rotary cam wheel 77 through a unidirectional clutch including a pawl 79 pivotally connected to the arm and being resiliently biased as by a spring 81 into contact with a ratchet wheel 83 which is fixedly secured to and rotatable with the rotary cam wheel 77. The actuating arm 75 has a return spring 85 which biases it toward a suitable stop 87 on the support 89 for the cam assembly. The cam wheel 77 has a plurality of alternate depressions 91 and ridges 93 which serve to actuate a suitable make-break switch 95 such as a microswitch through the medium of a follower arm 97 which engages with the ridges 93 and depressions 91 of the cam wheel surface. The switch is operatively connected in series with the warp stop motion 25 in a manner similar to that disclosed in Figure 1. It will be apparent however that if desired the switch of this arrangement as well as that in the arrangement in Figure 1 might be arranged to energize or deenergize a relay which in turn might serve to disconnect and connect the warp stop motion 25 in lieu of the direct connection and operation as illustrated herein.

By suitably spacing the striker members 67, 69 apart they may be made to actuate the stepping switch 73 arrangement first to a stop motion disconnect position upon the passage of the forward striker member and then to a stop motion connect position upon the passage of the rearmost striker member 69, the suitable spacing of the hose or other striker members being effective to maintain the stop motion 25 disconnected during the portion of travel of the blower 19 over the individual loom.

In operation, the first or forward striker member 67 depending from the blower carriage 71 engages the lever arm 75 and advances the ratchet one step. This opens the switch in the warp stop motion circuit 25 inasmuch as the cam follower arm 97 then rests on a raised or ridge portion 93 of the cam wheel. The switch will remain in this position while the blower travels over the loom. Upon the passage of the blower beyond the edge of the loom where the blast of air therefrom will be insufficient to actuate the drop wires 27 or other sensing medium of the warp stop motion, the second hose or other striker member at the rear of the blower will engage the actuating arm 75, advancing the ratchet 83 and cam wheel 77 another notch, closing the switch 95 and placing the loom warp stop motion 25 back into operation.

While several embodiments have been illustrated, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many modifications and other alternative embodiments might be employed without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, various other blower-responsive switching arrangements might be employed such as a walking-beam arrangement which might be actuated by a pair of striker members, or the arrangement might be employed in conjunction with other stop motions which might presently or later become desirable to be used on looms. Also while a dashpot type delay device is illustrated in the embodiment of Figure 1 it Will be apparent that other timing or delay mechanisms might be employed, or alternately a switching arrangement having two switches, such as a vane and switch at the forward side and a vane and switch at the rearward side of the loom might be employed, the forward vane serving to disconnect the stop motion and the rearward vane serving to restore the stop motion to operative condition. Accordingly, it is to be understood that this invention is not to be limited by the illustrated embodiments, but only by the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. The combination comprising a loom having a stopmotion circuit, a traveling blower mounted for movement past said loom at intermittent intervals, a switch operatively connected in controlling disconnect-connect relation with said stop-motion circuit and being responsive to movement of said blower in passing said loom.

2. The combination according to claim 1, further comprising a time-delay device operatively connected in partial controlling relation with said switch and being initially responsive to movement of said blower in passing said loom.

3. The combination according to claim 2 wherein said time-delay device is a dashpot.

4. The combination according to claim 3 wherein said dashpot is pneumatic.

5. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said time-delay device is an adjustable dashpot.

6. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said time-delay device is a liquid dashpot.

7. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said switch is operatively responsive to air flow from said blower on the blower-travel-approach side of said loom to effect disabling of said stop-motion circuit, and means for re-enabling said circuit upon passage of said blower beyond said loom.

8. The combination according to claim 1, further comprising a movable vane in operative controlling relation to said switch and responsive to air flow from said blower to efi'ect actuation of said switch.

9. The combination according to claim 8, further comprising a time-delay device operatively connected in controlling relation with said switch and being responsive to movement of said vane by said air flow.

10. The combination according to claim 9 wherein said time-delay device is a dashpot having a movable return member, said return member being operatively connected for initiating movement responsive to movement of said vane, and in return-controlling-and-efiecting relation to said vane.

11. The combination according to claim 10 wherein said dashpot includes a spring operatively connected to said return member and adapted to eflect return of said return member and said vane to initial position.

12. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said stop-motion circuit is a warp stop-motion circuit having drop wires exposed to the blast of air from said blower during said intermittent travel of said blower past said loom.

13. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said switch is a position-sensitive switch, and a sensing element associated with said switch and responsive to movement of said blower therepast to eflect selected opening and closing of said switch.

14. The combination according to claim 13 wherein said sensing elements is an air vane disposed in the path of air flow from said blower on the approach side of said loom.

15. The combination according to claim 14 wherein said switch is a mercury switch operatively connected to said vane.

16. The combination comprising a plurality of looms, each having a stop-motion circuit, a common traveling blower for cleaning said looms and mounted for movement over each of said looms at intermittent intervals, each of said looms having a switch operatively connected in controlling disconnect-connect relation with said stopmotion circuit and being responsive to a predetermined movement of said blower.

17. The combination according to claim 16, further comprising a corresponding plurality of vanes operatively connected in controlling relation to a respective one of each of said switches; said vanes being mounted on the blower approach side of each of said looms and being movable in response to the flow of air thereagainst by said blower.

18. The combination according to claim 17, further comprising a corresponding plurality of time-delay devices associated with and being in controlling relation with a respective one of each of said switches, said time-delay devices each being responsive to movement of its corresponding vane by said air flow.

19. The combination according to claim 18 wherein each of said time-delay devices is a dashpot.

20. The method of preventing false air-blast-actuation of a loom stop motion during air cleaning of a running loom, comprising selectively disabling said stop motion during the directing onto the sensing medium of said stop motion of a blast of air sufficient to cause false actuation of said stop motion, and re-enabling said stop motion upon movement of said air blast to a position where it is insufiicient to cause a false actuation of said stop motion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,596,455 Rowe et a1 Aug. 17, 1926 2,695,039 Holtzclaw Nov. 23, 1954 2,729,845 De V. Miller et al Ian. 10, 1956 2,812,251 De V. Miller et a1 Nov. 5, 1957 

